ACC prepares for drugs encore

Adrian Proszenko, Heath Aston

The darkest day in Australian sport could be revisited in less than two years' time. Fairfax Media can reveal the Australian Crime Commission is set to table a follow-up to its explosive report into doping and the integrity of sport by June 2015.

One of the recommendations stemming from the original report, handed down on February 7, states: ''The ACC completes a further assessment of the threat posed by PIEDs [performance and image enhancing drugs] to the sports sector in Australian by 2015.''

Under the heading ''Current status of work on government recommendation'', the report states: ''The Australian Crime Commission maintains a watching brief of the Australian drugs market in its High Risk and Emerging Drugs Special Operation. Along with annual production of the Illicit Drug Data Report, the ACC will develop a further assessment of the threat posed by PIEDs to the sports sector by June 2015 subject to priority decisions made by the ACC board.''

The office of the Minister for Home Affairs, Jason Clare, confirmed the ACC still intended to fulfil the recommendation of the first report and undertake a second. While there wasn't any confirmation of when the follow-up will begin, it is likely to begin within 12 months to make the deadline, as it is understood the original report took about a year to compile.

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It remains to be seen whether ASADA will have even completed its probe into the NRL and the AFL by then. The anti-doping body took an important step when it gave the AFL an interim report on Friday on its investigation into the possible use of banned substances at Essendon. Interviews with NRL players and staffers of interest have resumed and will continue throughout August. The government has been criticised for the manner in which it announced the findings of the initial ACC report and the length of time ASADA has taken to investigate the issues raised.

The infamous press conference - fronted by Clare, then federal Sports Minister Kate Lundy and attended by the heads of the nation's major sporting codes - generated worldwide headlines. It was thought to be a one-off, but the prospect of another bombshell report is likely to be met with concern from players, supporters, clubs and sponsors still reeling from the fallout of the first. As yet, not a single player has been stood down for a doping offence.

While there are NRL players of interest to ASADA, the focus has been squarely on Cronulla, the only club not cleared of systematic doping. Their interim chief executive, Bruno Cullen, resigned in protest after the board reinstated four sacked staffers for their alleged role in the scandal without consulting him.

Asked his thoughts on the future for the Sharks, Cullen - who was parachuted in by the ARLC - replied: ''They have got a future but it's always going to be tough.

''This [property] development will be a saviour if it works, so there's always a classification around that. They will rely on that very heavily over the next five to 10 years. They will really struggle for a few years financially until that starts to pay its dividends. With the restructure and the people on board - and they have some wonderful staff there - I think they can survive but it's always going to be a challenge.''